1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating a hollow body from blanks, obtained from at least one web of material, particularly of a textile material, as well as to a method of fabricating the hollow body by making use of the apparatus. Hollow bodies of this kind are required for the fabrication of air bags, but also for seat or cushion covers. Instead of textile material plastics films may also be employed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fabricating air bag hollow bodies by stitching together blanks from one or more webs of material is known. Stitching together the blanks is problematic. The shape of the blanks depends on the desired shape of the air bag hollow body. In most cases blank contours materialize which cannot be simply stitched together; the outer shapes of the blanks are mismatched so that they can not simply be placed one on the other in a single plane. Thus, instead, it is often necessary for the stitcher to register the blanks together piece by piece during the stitching procedure. As a result a seam materializes as a kind of three-dimensional configuration. On the one hand this work is very time-consuming and, on the other, it results in a relatively large amount of waste since it is not always the case that the marks on the edges of the blanks actually belonging together are also in reality stitched together. Displacements occur and the fabricated air bag hollow body needs to be eliminated as scrap. The case is similar as regards seat covers having complicated shapes.